The Terrific3 travel blog

We had an 830am flight today to Bangkok with a 1.75 hour layover and then on to Bali. I was advised to leave at 7, but that felt a little close to comfort for me, so our driver came to pick us up at 615am. Our lovely Airbnb host helped us with luggage, and gave me a hug and wished the boys goodbye.

When we arrived at the airport, the driver was confused about what terminal to go to, but I figured we would start in domestic. We checked luggage into Air Asia, and I was glad I had a luggage scale with me as a couple of the bags were just under the limit. We were asked for COVID vaccine cards here (first time during our travel!). We were also asked if we had completed the online customs declaration for Indonesia (we had and I showed her our QR code. Agent was confused for a meeting but then asked someone and said it was ok). Always an adventure flying internationally—you never know if you’re doing things correctly. Bags got tagged then we had to walk them to baggage screening, where they X-rayed the luggage and flagged our soccer ball that was still full of air. Apparently that is a no no for checked luggage, so S decided to carry on his carry on backpack.

We were then advised to go to the international “hall,” and we passed through passport control where they fingerprinted me (same as on entry), took photos of the boys, and stamped our passports.

Our Bangkok flight was supposed to board at 750am for an 830 departure and I started getting nervous when I saw no action. The gate agent reassured us that we were at the right place and boarding was delayed to 820 but flight was not.

So then I decided to Google one more time if I needed an Indonesian visa as I had read we did not for stays under 30 days. That seemed to not be true and you can either purchase on arrival or online prior (the answer with kids is obvious). So at 815 am, I decide to start a priority online visa application. You can pay an extra $35 to get it done within an hour. It involved adding names, DOB, passport number, and then taking photos of each of us and our passport pages. So quite a few steps. Got it done as and while plane was boarding after a slight freak out that maybe I left my second wallet at our place in chiang mai (I keep a second wallet with USD, extra credit cards and drivers license separately from my local wallet in case something gets stolen, so I have back up).

On arrival in Bangkok, I had received another email from Indonesia that they needed another photo of our passport pages, so resent those. As if now, boarding our plane to Bali, our e-visas are not approved….it’s a nail biter!

Despite a 1.5 hour connection at Don Mueng airport, the transfer process to the international terminal was organized and seamless. We had there special stickers placed on us in Chiang Mai, and staff standing by at several points to direct us, one with a list of our names. It was a bit of a walk, but not bad.

We had not bought plane food ( no freebies on Air Asia, including you pay for drunks! $1-$2 for apple juice!), so I wanted to find food given we had a 4 hour flight ahead of us and likely wouldn’t arrive to hotel until close to 6pm was my guess.

Subway to the rescue. Kids got egg and cheese sandwiches and Mac and cheese sides and I got a veggie deluxe. Amazing how a subway sandwich tastes basically the same thousands of miles from home. I was hoping for some Thai food, but there were limited options, plus we only had time to get into line for one vendor before we boarded.

So once we landed in Bali, after a somewhat turbulent flight, things started to be a little less smooth. First, I discovered that I still had our Airbnb key from Chiang Mai! Then, the e visa i had been waiting for from my online application never came through.

After talking to multiple people, going through immigration, talking to a manager, going back to buy a visa in person, I discovered that the website I used was a scam. And they had already started to test my credit card with $1 purchases. God knows what they’ll do with our passport information—I’m so mad at myself, but it looked so legit. This whole thing delayed our going through immigration. It then also led to a couple of phone calls to my credit card company to cancel my card. Oh, what an introduction to Bali! I wasn’t really panicky, just annoyed, but still observing the beauty around me as we entered this gorgeous island.

Hotel lobby

Check in at our hotel went smoothly and the boys were super excited to explore as I did the check in process. Our family adventure suite is great, but it will be an experiment for the kids to share a room. It’s been a while since S has done that, and historically it hasn’t gone well. We did lots of prep this time, and they have a PlayStation, and I told them I’ll pay them for every day they don’t wake each other up or fight while in the room (maybe too lofty?). We are all tired from travel and poor sleep last night and the hotel restaurant was good but very busy and very slow. I had to practically beg for our food and check as Z was so tired and the boys were arguing like a married couple and getting on my nerves while I tried to referee.

I’m excited to explore the hotel and beach more tomorrow and the boys tell me they’ll play foosball while i run on the beach in the morning. There’s nothing more I want than a run on the beach!